Near ideal temperatures in the high 50s encouraged record fast times at Sunday morning’s 3rd EQT Pittsburgh 10 Miler as Buze Diriba, 21, of Ethiopia broke the women's record with a time of 52 minutes, 55 seconds, while American Tyler Pennel, 27, tied the event record by Elijah Muturi Karanja (2013) with his 46:50 clocking.

In the men’s race, Pennel, Kenyans Geoffrey Kenisi and Macdonard Ondara and Moroccan Mourad Marofit, formed the lead pack, setting a fast pace early on in the race with 4:40 and 4:45 opening splits. During mile 7, Pennel broke away from the lead pack and finished strongly with a 12-second win in 46:50 to tie the event record. Marofit was runner-up in 47:02, while Kenisi finished in third with 47:16. Chris Solinsky, the first American to break 27 minutes at 10,000 meters, finished 12th with a 50:09 in his comeback race after two years of injury.

“I was confident going into the race knowing that I could win it,” said Pennel, a ZAP Fitness athlete. “I enjoyed the hilly course. It’s not a time-trial course but requires some strategy. In the last quarter of the course, I decided to go for it.”

In the women’s race, the trio of Diriba, who was runner up last year, Kenyan Aliphine Tuliamuk-Bolton and Rkia El Moukim of Morocco formed the lead pack. Diriba pulled ahead in the final stretch finishing in 52:55, a course record, to shatter Sara Hall’s 53:47 record from 2014. Tuliamuk-Bolton finished in second in 53:11, and Moukim took third with a 54:19 clocking.

“I felt very good,” Diriba said. “I was very excited to return to Pittsburgh again. I had unfinished business here. I am very happy to come away with a win.”

Pennel and Diriba’s times were also the fastest on U.S. soil in 2015 on a record standard, certified 10 mile course.
Tara Welling was the first American female and took home $2000 as part of the P3R’s American Development
Program (ADP), finishing 4th overall in 55:11.

“For our third edition, a beautiful fall Pittsburgh day drew 4,000-plus entrants, and in our debut on the 2015-16 PRRO Circuit, we had our most competitive field yet that included a women’s event record and men’s event record tie,” said P3R CEO Patrice Matamoros.